It’s a good week to buy big ships as Royal Caribbean Group announced it had ordered a seventh Oasis-class ship to be constructed following the debut this year of the Port Canaveral-bound Utopia of the Seas.

“While we eagerly anticipate the debut of Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas this summer, we’re already dreaming up her sister ship and the next installation in the brand’s extremely popular Oasis Class,” said Jason Liberty, president and CEO of the parent company to Royal Caribbean International as well as the Celebrity and Silversea cruise bands.

It’s the second major ship announcement this week following Carnival Corp.’s order of a fourth Excel-class ship for Carnival Cruise Line.

Carnival Cruise Line to get 4th Excel-class ship, sister to Canaveral’s Mardi Gras

Royal executives in the last year have hinted that Oasis class ships might not be done despite the introduction this year of Icon of the Seas, the first of three in the larger Icon class.

Now the yet-to-be-named sister ship to the five existing Oasis-class ships as well as the under construction Utopia of the Seas  will be constructed at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France with an expected completion in 2028. The announcement is contingent on securing financing for the order, but is expected to be complete later this year, according to the cruise line group.

The first two ships in the class, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, which debuted in 2009 and 2010, respectively, were built at what is now the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, at the time known as STX Europe. The rest of the ships starting with Harmony of the Seas, which debuted in 2016, were constructed at the French shipyard, which at the time was called STX France. Symphony of the Seas followed in 2018 then Wonder of the Seas debuting in 2022.

Each of the first five Oasis-class vessels held the title of world’s largest cruise ship, each incrementally larger than the previous sister ships. Wonder of the Seas comes in at 235,600 gross tons and a 7,084 passenger capacity.

Icon of the Seas, which began sailing in January from PortMiami is a little more than 25,000 gross tons bigger and has a maximum capacity of 7,600 passengers. Its first sister ship, which is headed to Port Canaveral in 2025, is named Star of the Seas while the third Icon-class ship will arrive in 2026.

Royal Caribbean details new dining on Port Canaveral-bound Utopia of the Seas

That means when Utopia of the Seas debuts, it will only be the second largest cruise ship in the world until Star of the Seas’ arrival. At that point, Port Canaveral will host the largest and third largest ships in the world. Utopia of the Seas remains under construction at Chantiers de l’Atlantique and will arrive to Central Florida this July.

The Oasis class introduced the neighborhood concept to cruise lines including the open and green Central Park space in the middle of the ship. All but one of the Oasis-class ships now feature the 10-deck twisting dry slide The Ultimate Abyss and three-slide Perfect Storm water park. Their entertainment offerings include a main stage, ice rink and AquaTheater and more than 40 food and beverage venues.

Details on what will be on the seventh Oasis-class ship including where it might call home were not revealed, although each of the new ships have debuted at either PortMiami, Port Everglades or Port Canaveral.

“These are exciting times for Royal Caribbean, and we have an incredible partner in Chantiers de l’Atlantique to bring to life the lucky seventh Oasis Class vessel of what is a remarkable class of ships,” said Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley.